Sunderland have stepped up their efforts to lure Danny Collins to the Stadium of Light after losing the services of Gary Breen for the next month.

The Black Cats skipper will not feature again until the club's home encounter with Brighton and Hove Albion on October 30 after the Football Association yesterday upheld the red card he received at Sheffield United this week and confirmed a three-match suspension.

Breen's ban will start with immediate effect and will rule him out of this afternoon's Coca-Cola Championship match with Derby County, as well as the forthcoming fixtures against Millwall and Watford.

And, although Mick McCarthy will have no qualms about drafting Neill Collins into his team to deputise for the 30-year-old, he is keen to add further cover to his squad and seems determined to sign the Scot's namesake from Chester.

"Bob Murray, the Sunderland chairman, contacted me and he has faxed an offer over to us," revealed the Chester chairman Stephen Vaughan last night.

"I have promised Mr Murray a response but as I have said many times before, we would like Danny to stay with us and we will hopefully sit down with him in the next day or two."

The Black Cats, who last season missed out to Sheffield United on the signings of Bradford duo Andy Gray and Simon Francis, will again face competition from Bramall Lane boss Neil Warnock, who has also lodged a bit.

Yet it seems that Chester will do everything in their power to keep Collins at the Deva Stadium.

"I want him to stay here because he has been excellent for us," said manager Ian Rush of the highly-rated 24-year-old. "From my point of view, there's no way he is going to go. I don't know how much has been offered but it isn't enough."

The loss of Breen is a major blow to McCarthy who having been baffled by the defender's dismissal on Tuesday night had been confident that the red cards shown to both his player and to Gray would be rescinded.

Yet, with no video evidence available, the Football League yesterday deemed that any appeal would be incomplete and decided not to refer the matter to a disciplinary commission.

"I'm not going to get involved in the discussion about the lack of video evidence," said McCarthy. "But there was no reaction from the players or from the fans.

"The two of them (Breen and Gray) walked off down the tunnel together and they seemed to be discussing it. It was not Billy Bremner and Kevin Keegan all over again.

"Neil Warnock said to me afterwards that neither player is like that, and we agreed that we would both like our players to be a bit more like that."

McCarthy will welcome Julio Arca back from injury today.

But Michael Bridges will not play as he struggles to overcome a thigh problem, Liam Lawrence has been ruled out and Jeff Whitley will undergo a late fitness test.